Lives That Don't Change
by SamCyberCat
Summary: Years later, Rei finds someone at her house who she didn’t expect to ever see again. And she has to come to terms with how she feels about him for the final time. Juudai/Rei.


Notes - Set post-GX. One of two fics done in response to a Rei-bashing story I came across recently that portrayed Rei to be a person she is not in order to make the Juudai/Asuka pairing look good and her to look evil. These stories will deal with Rei's relationships with Juudai and Martin as I think they are.

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He sneezed nosily.

"Bless you."

She hoped that he hadn't sneezed into the soup, but as she thought about what he'd probably been living off for the past so many years a bit of sneezing in soup probably wouldn't make a difference to him.

"Thank you," he sniffed, wiping his nose before starting to drink from the cup she'd given him, "This is really good."

"You're lucky I was making it," Rei said, as she watched the gangly figure of Juudai sitting on her floor wrapped in a spare blanket, "For that matter you're lucky I found you at all."

"Domino's changed in a few years," he said sheepishly.

"Domino's changed in iten/i years," corrected Rei.

"Probably even longer than that," Juudai said, shrugging, "I spent the last three years of my life in Duel Academia, so I didn't really see the city very much."

This didn't feel right. Juudai had gone without a trace. They'd all been prepared for him to go, but when it happened… it happened so fast. No one had a chance to ask him about what was running through his head. Or to tie up any of those loose ends with him.

Though she had a chance to now.

"Why did you go away for so long?" Rei asked, not wanting to beat around the subject.

"I… had to find myself," he looked distant for a moment as he spoke, "It seemed I had affected so many people's lives so much, but when it came down to it my own dream was just to become the King of Games. After that where do I go?" He considered that it wouldn't be a good idea to ever tell anyone about his duel against Yuugi.

"And it took you this long to figure it out?" prompted Rei.

"Nah, it took me this long to get bored of living in the desert," he said, the smile returning, "Getting back here was sort of fun though. Even if I didn't expect it would be you that found me."

"I certainly didn't expect to find you either," she agreed, moving to sit on the floor opposite him, "It almost made be crash the car when I saw you walking on the pavement like it was just another day. You… really don't look too different from how you did when you left."

"You haven't either," Juudai commented awkwardly, though he had to admit that Rei did look different. She was just entering her teenage years when he'd seeing her in the academia, now she was a full grown woman, "But somehow I always thought it'd be Shou or Kenzan who'd find me first when I returned."

She had to agree that she saw his point, if in some attempt to explain this she confirmed, "Kenzan's away seeing at a dig right now, but I'm sure he would have run straight to see you if he'd known you were back. And chances are Shou would have been the same, but being a Pro League champion is a full time job."

"I'm glad to hear they ended up with careers that make them happy. But somehow… I sort of expected everything would be the same with my friendships with them when I got back," admitted Juudai.

"It was, for a while," sighed Rei, not looking directly at him, "When you left it hurt so many people. For a while it seemed everyone was going to dwell on you forever. They all spoke of you so much… In a way I was glad that most of them were graduating that year so I wouldn't have to hear your name anymore…"

He nodded, "I forgot that you had a crush on me back then. It must have been hard for you."

'Back then'?

He still didn't know much about woman.

"It was for everyone," Rei swallowed her pride, she wouldn't pretend that she was the first person to be hurt by him, "But they all… moved on. It was slow and it wasn't easy. But after so long each of them started to accept that you weren't going to come back and got on with their lives."

"That's part of the reason why I went away," he confessed, she did look up at him now, "So many people depended on me to help them along, but when I looked at them I saw so much potential. Potential to grow and become strong people. As long as I was around they'd cling onto me and not go as far as they could do. To help them it was important for me to go, even if it was hard on them all."

"You did the right thing…" she mumbled, thinking about how much the others had all grown since he left. Shou, Kenzan, Manjoume, Asuka and Johan were just a handful of those who had been affected by him but had learned to become their own people without Juudai in their lives.

"I notice you didn't include yourself in that, you talk of 'them' separately," commented Juudai, raising an eyebrow.

He chooses inow/i to become observant?

"I've grown up too… After you left and Duel Academia was over I went on to study duelling further at university," she protested. But she'd also stayed in Domino, because she'd hoped that one day Juudai would come back. She'd never considered a career away from duelling, because duelling was what Juudai had loved. She'd eventually admitted to herself that she had to stop using her treasured Maiden Deck in favour of the stronger Lightsworn cards, because if Juudai came back as the most powerful duellist of all she wanted to be good enough for a rematch. It was possibly a good idea not to tell him any of that.

Though he was here now and it felt so wrong…

"I wasn't worried about you when I left," he said randomly, cutting into her thoughts.

Hearing that stung her a little, and she couldn't think of a suitable response.

When she didn't reply he went on, "You shouldn't take this the wrong way but from when I first met you it seemed that you were really determined as a person. After you lost to me and left Duel Academia I hadn't put much thought into seeing you again, but you came back just as determined to prove yourself as ever. Part of me is glad that you didn't see the horrors of the Dark World, but regardless of how it affected anyone else, when we all got back you were just as headstrong as ever. So it was always clear to me that nothing would ever hold you back. If I went away you'd go on trying to prove yourself and the duelling world would have to watch out when you were ready to tackle it."

She blinked and tried to take this all in.

"I didn't know you'd thought so much about me," she admitted, a touch of colour coming to her cheeks, "But you were mistaken, I haven't grown up that much."

The eyes he looked at her through expressed a great deal of sympathy. Part of what he'd thought about her included that she'd move on from her crush and find happiness with someone else. But here she was living on her own, telling him that all the people who he'd been close to were the ones who had moved on.

"Maybe you do need a final push," he mused aloud, getting to his feet and setting the half-drunk cup of soup down on the side.

"But you said we all had to grow up without you," she said, looking up at him. Even now she couldn't tell why Juudai acted the way he did.

"I did, and from what you're saying you all have done," Juudai confirmed, "So if I go back into their lives now it might mess up what they've achieved when I left. But you, you've been waiting for me. Maybe not in the same way you were as a kid but you have been. And now I could show you the world of true duelling."

"True duelling?" He'd lost her now.

"To duel for the thrill of duelling," he confirmed, "To go to the strangest places in the world and meet so many weird people and duel them. Just because you can. Just because of the fun you get from it, not for sport or titles. You'd love it I just know you would. We could go everywhere in the world, and you'll see duels that you never even imagined."

"I can't just leave like that!" she shouted, not sure whether to be shocked completely by the suggestion or laugh at it, "We can't all just get up and leave like it's no big deal. I have a life to live too you know."

His face was dead set now.

He didn't attempt to justify his offer to her, all he said was, "I'll only offer once."

And he would do too… If she didn't go with him than he'd be gone by tomorrow and her dreams of Juudai would have gone with him. If she wanted to be with him she'd have to change herself for him.

It was Rei's turn to stand up now, and she walked past him to where the aging cat Pharaoh had been sleeping by the door.

"Has he been looking after you all these years Pharaoh?" she cooed, stroking the fur of the mangy cat, "I really have missed you. And someone has to make sure you're not being pushed too hard. So I guess I have to go, for your sake."

She had to decide if she really loved Juudai that much.

It wasn't a difficult decision to make.

Though she couldn't see, he was smiling at her as he watched her stroke Pharaoh. Perhaps he could adjust his life for some company too.


End file.
